PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – April 2019: The Minister of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago during a post-Cabinet briefing warned the public on the health risks of synthetic drugs. Although Trinidad and Tobago had made very few seizures of synthetic drugs in the past, within four months after a training provided by UNODC, officers seized over 5,000 synthetic drug pills. Most of the pills tested positive for MDMA, but also other substances as amphetamine, methamphetamine and ketamine in powder and crystalline form were identified.

Trinidad and Tobago participated in the UNODC hands-on forensic training workshop on drug identification, in Panama in November 2018. UNODC trained police and customs officers from Latin America and the Caribbean on using modern hand-held drug identification devices on synthetic drugs and NPS, the health risks associated with the abuse of those substances and how this affects men and women differently. Using those devices over 400 different drugs and precursors, including NPS, can be identified.

“We had never seen such amounts of synthetic drugs seized in such a short period of time” said David Anyanwu from the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre of Trinidad and Tobago, which also hosts the country’s newly established early warning system for New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and Emerging Drugs. “The devices provided by UNODC have been critical in this context. Although we suspected synthetic drugs were coming into the country, we had limited capacity to detect them”, he continued.



The activities of the Global SMART Programme in Latin America and the Caribbean are supported by Global Affairs Canada.

For further information please see:
- For the warning of health risks of synthetic drugs of the Minister of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago during a post-Cabinet briefing, click here.
- UN Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs (works best with Chrome)
- Latin American and Caribbean Newsletter, Volume No. 3.
- Guidelines on Raman Handheld Field Identification Devices for Seized Material